Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1329

 VIA SALArJA. and is marked in the Itineraries as 18 miles from Rome. Here the Via Nomentana again fell into the Salaria. (Strab. v. p. 228.) Hence to Eeate the latter road traversed a hilly country, but of no great interest, following nearly the same line as the modern road from Rome to Jiieti. The interme- diate station of Ad Novas or Vicus Novus, as it is called in the Antoniiie Itinerary is still marked by ruins near the Osteria Nuova, 32 miles from Rome, and 16 from Rietl. Here an old church still bore at a late period the name of Vico Nuovo. The stations on the original Via Salaria, from Rome to Reate, are correctly given, and can clearly be identified. From Rome to 'Ev&lum {Grotta Marozza) - xviii. m. p. Vicus Novus (^Ost. Nuova) - xiv. Keate (^liietl) - - . - xvi. From Eeate the Via Salaria (or the continuation of it as given in the Itineraries) proceeded nearly due E. by Cutiliae, which is identified by its cele- brated lake, or ratiier mineral springs, to luterocrea (^Antrodoco), situated at the junction of two natural passes or lines of communication through the central Apennines. The one of these leads from Interocrea to Amiternum, in the upper valley of the Aternus, and was f illowed by a cross-road given in the Tabula, but of which both the stations and the distances are extremely confused : the other, which is the main valley of the Velinus, and bears nearly due N., was ascended by the Via Salaria as far as Falacrinum, 16 miles from Interocrea, and near the sources of the Velinus. Thence that road crossed the rid^e of the Apennines and descended into the valley of the Tronto (Truentus), which river it followed to its mouthat Castrum Truentinum, passingon the way by the strongly situated city of Asculum (^Ascoli). The distances on this line of route are thus correctly given in the Antonine Itinerary (p. 307): From Reate to Cutiliae (near Pnterno) - - viii. m. p. Interocrea (^Antrodoco) - - vi. Falacrinum (near Cicita Reale) - xvi. Vicus Badies - - - - is. Ad Centesimum* - - - x. Asculum (^Ascoli) _ - - sii. Castrum Truentinum - - xx. From this last point two roads branched off, the one turning N., and proceeding along the coast of the Adriatic to Ancona ; the other proceeding S. along the same coast to Castrum Novum (near Giulia Nuova), and thence to Adria (^Atri). The latter branch is given in the Itinerary as a part of the Via Salaria ; but it is clear that neither of them properly belonged to that highway, both being in fact only portions of the lung line of road which followed the coast of the Adriatic continuously from Anconato Brundusium, and which is given in the An-> tonine Itinerary in connection with the Via Flaminia {Itln. Ant. pp.'313 — 316). (The course of the Via distant 100 miles from Rome, while the distances above given would make up only 97 miles : but it is uncertain at what precise point the deficiency occurs. The Tabula gives 9 miles from Keate to Cutiliae, and 7 thence to Interocrea : if these dis- tances be adopted the result is 99 miles, leaving a discrepancy of only one mile. In cither case the approximation is sulficient to siiow the general cor- rectness of the Itineraries, VIA VALERIA. 1305 Salaria is examined, and the distances discussed in detail by D'Anville, Analyse Gioijraphhpie. de VJtalie pp. 163— 169.) [E. H. B.] VIA SUBLACENSIS. [Vlv Valeuia.] VIA TIBERINA, a name found in inscriptions, and noticed by the Notitia and Curiosum among the roads that issued from the gates of Rome, was in all probability the road that quitted the Via Flaminia at Sasa Rubra, and followed the riglit bank of the Tiber until it rejoined the Via FJaminia, between Acqua Viva and Borfjhetto. The existence of such a road is known from remains of it still visible ; and it is the only one to which the name of Via Tiberina can well be applied. (W'estphal, Rom. Kamp. pp. 134, 138.) [E. H. B.] VIA TIBURTINA. [Vlv Valeria.] VIA TRAJANA. [Via Appia, No. 4.] VIA VALERIA (^ Ovaepia o5os, Stralj.), one of the most celebrated and important of the Roman highways, which led from Rome, or, more strictly speaking, from Tibur, to the lake Fucinus and the land of the ilarsi, and thence was subsequently continued to the Adriatic, at the mouth of ihe Ater- nus. The period of its construction is uncertain. It has indeed been frequently supposed to have de- rived its name from, and to have been the work of, M. Valerius Maximus, who was censor with C. Junius Bubulcus in B.C. 307 ; but the expression of Livy, that the two constructed roads "per agros," would certainly seem to refer to cross-roads in the neigh- bourhood of Rom.e ; and it is very improbable that the construction of so celebrated a highway as the Via Valeria should not have been more distiitctly stated. (Liv. ix. 43.) The Via Valeria, indeed, was properly only a continuation of the Via Tibur- tina, which led from Rome to Tibur ; and though the Itineraries include the whole line of route under the name of the Via Valeria, it appears that the dis- tinction was still kept up in the time of Straho, who distinctly speaks of the Valerian Way as hvginning from Tibur, and leading to the Marsi, and to Corfinium, the metropolis of the Feligni (Strab. v. p. 238). The expressions of the geographer would naturally lead us to conclude that the Via Valeria was in his time carried as a regular highway as far as Corfinium ; but we learn from an inscription, that this was not the case, and that the regularly cou- structed road stopped short at Ccrfennia, at the foot of the Jlons Imeus or Fovea di Caruso, a steep and difficult pass, over which the highway was not carried till the reign of Claudius, who at the same time con- tinued it to the mouth of the Aternus. (Orell. Iiiscr. 711.) It appears that the portion thus added at first bore the name of the Via Claudia Valeria (Inscr. I.e.); but the distinction was soon lost siglit of, and the whole line of route from liome to the Adriatic was connnonly known as the Via Valeria. (/</«, A7it. p. 308.) It will be convenient here to adopt the same usage, and consider the whole course of the roail under one head. The Via Tiburtina, as the road from Rome to Tibur was properly called, nmst undoubtedly have been of very ancient origin. There must indeed have existed from the earliest ages of Rome a fre- quented highway or comiimnication between the two cities; but we are wholly ignnrant as to the tinio when a regularly made road, with its solid pavement and all the other accessories of a Roman via, was con- structed from the one city to the other. The road as it existed in the time of the Roman Empire may be distinctly traced by portions still remaining of the
 * It is clear from the name that this station was